I am so confused about when and how much i can earn! my husband died at age 57 not taking any Ss and I, his widow was told that I can begin to draw his SS at my 60 Birthday. but i have been told that if i work, i can't draw his SS without a huge penalty, leaving me with not much to live on. I earn 12.00 and hour and was told that he met his full credits for work so i would be able to get the full amount. But when can i draw this and do i have to stop working? I can not make more than 16.450.. a year. does that mean i can work and earn that much and still pull his retirement without penalty?
I will be able to retire and draw MY full benefits at the age of 66 and 2 months. hopefully by then i can actually use it. Please advise me as to how little i can work and still make ends meet. Of course I would like to not work. And since he died without getting to use his, shouldn't I automatically be able to receive his benefits and it not make a impact on MINE. If his is not used or claimed, who gets it?
To many questions for me to figure out and I seem to get a run around when i ask.
Thank you for your time
Debbie

Hi Debbie,

I'm sorry for your loss.

The Social Security exempt amount of earnings is $17,040 in 2018 for people who are under age 66 and drawing benefits (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/whileworking2.html). What that means is that if you file for benefits this year and earn less than $17,040, Social Security will not withhold any of your benefits. But, if you earn more than $17,040 Social Security would withhold $1 of your benefits for each $2 that you earn in excess of that. For example:

Jane turns 60 and files for widow's benefits in January 2018. Jane's husband's projected full retirement age rate (PIA) was $2000, but Jane's widow's benefit rate is reduced by 28.5% because she files at age 60. That gives Jane a monthly widow's rate of $1430 (i.e. $2000 x .715).

If Jane earns less than $17,040 in 2018 she can be paid her full $1430 benefit for all 12 months of 2018, or a total of $17,160 in benefits (i.e. $1430 x 12). But, if Jane earns more than $17,040 in 2018 at least some of her Social Security benefits will need to be withheld. Say for example Jane earns $31,340 in 2018. Since that would exceed the exempt amount by $14,300, Jane would lose $7,150 of her benefits in 2018 (i.e. $1 of benefits for each $2 that her earnings exceed $17,040). That would still mean, though, that Jane would be able to work and still be paid over $10,000 of her total benefits in 2018 in this example.

You can file for either reduced retirement benefits on your own record or reduced widow's benefits before your full retirement age without affecting the benefit rate payable on the other record. The earliest that you could qualify for reduced widow's benefits is age 60, and the earliest that you could qualify for reduced retirement benefits is age 62. In your case it sounds like your best filing strategy would almost certainly be one of the following:
1) File for widow's benefits at age 60 or as soon as your earnings will permit benefits to be paid, then switch to your own record at age 70; or,
2) File for retirement benefits on your own record at age 62 or as soon as your earnings will permit benefits to be paid, then file for unreduced widow's benefits at your full retirement age.

Generally, you would want to start out drawing the lower benefit first and then switch to the higher record when it reaches it's highest potential rate. The maximization software available on this website can sort this all out for you and help you determine your best overall filing strategy.

Best, Jerry